Cocking lever, particularly for firearms for use in hunting of the lever-action repeater type

ABSTRACT

A cocking lever, particularly for firearms for use in hunting of the lever-action repeater type, which is configured to be assembled in a lever-action repeater firearm and which comprises at least one front part, designed to engage with a loading mechanism of the firearm, and a rear part, which defines the handle of the cocking lever; the front and rear parts are mutually associated using elements of rapid coupling and uncoupling in such a manner as to allow a facilitated removal of the rear part.

The present invention relates to a cocking lever, particularly for firearms for use in hunting of the lever-action repeater type.

In the sector of hunting activities the use is known of repeater firearms or, more technically, breech-loading firearms with lever action.

Worldwide and historically, many different arms have been developed which differ from each other in caliber, design, and brand of manufacturer/distributor.

More specifically, a lever-action repeater firearm, such as a rifle, is characterized by a tubular magazine located below the barrel through which the bullet is expelled.

Such tubular magazine is adapted to contain the cartridges and is associated with a lever-actuated loading mechanism the function of which, when actuated manually, is to move a single cartridge from the tubular magazine to the firing chamber located at the base of the barrel.

The manually-actuated lever, called the cocking lever, is located below the trigger and has the form of an eyelet, in such a manner as to be graspable by the user by inserting the fingers that are not used to pull the trigger.

In this way, the lever makes it possible to hold the firearm in the position for targeting and shooting and to actuate the loading mechanism connected to it, by rotating it away from the trigger in the direction of the barrel.

Once the firearm is loaded, the lever is then returned to the initial position.

Conveniently, the manufacturers of firearms have fitted their weapons with levers adapted to offer the best conditions of manageability and comfort according to use, being made in different sizes so as to meet the needs of users, from those who have small hands to those who have larger hands and/or who use protective gloves, of greater or lesser thickness, according to the necessities of the case.

It is sufficient for example to consider the encumbrance presented by a winter glove compared to a summer glove.

Such conventional firearms are not devoid of drawbacks, among which is the fact that a firearm equipped with an oversized lever, designed to receive the fingers of a hand wearing a protective glove for the winter season is therefore uncomfortable and inadequate for ordinary use without gloves, or in any case with technical gloves of limited thickness, just as a firearm equipped with a standard lever, designed to receive the fingers of an unclad hand or in any case a hand wearing a technical glove of limited thickness, is therefore uncomfortable and inadequate for winter use with protective gloves of high thickness.

When the extreme importance of having a firm and safe grip is considered, it is easy to see that a lever dimensioned incorrectly as a function of the conditions of use could reveal itself to be a cause of accidents and danger in handling the firearm.

In order to overcome this drawback, it is common practice to change the lever completely for each season or to have at least two weapons, one designed exclusively for the warm season and one for the cold season.

In both cases it is evident that the proposed solutions entail an inconvenience for the user who, depending on the individual case, has to attend to dismantling the firearm or having it dismantled, which requires a high degree of specialist training, or at least own at least two firearms.

The aim of the present invention consists in providing a firearm for use in hunting, particularly of the lever-action repeater type, that can be used under any conditions, with or without gloves, while maintaining a high degree of manageability, comfort and safety.

Within this aim, an object of the present invention consists in providing a firearm that, in order to be adapted to use by users with hands of different sizes and with or without protective gloves, does not require specialist operations of disassembly and reassembly of the cocking lever.

Another object of the present invention consists in providing a firearm provided with a loading lever that ensures adequate structural strength and reliability of operation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a firearm that is easy to provide using technologies and components, as well as materials, that are readily available on the market.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a firearm that can be provided at low cost.

This aim and these and other objects which will become more apparent hereinafter are achieved by a cocking lever, particularly for firearms for use in hunting of the lever-action repeater type, which is configured to be assembled in a lever-action repeater firearm and which comprises at least one front part, designed to engage with the loading mechanism of said firearm, and a rear part, which defines the handle of said cocking lever; characterized in that said front and rear parts are mutually associated with each other using means of rapid coupling and uncoupling in such a manner as to allow the facilitated removal of said rear part.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the detailed description of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of a cocking lever, particularly for firearms for use in hunting of the lever-action repeater type, which is illustrated for the purposes of non-limiting example with the assistance of the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the cocking lever according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a first configuration of the cocking lever shown in FIG. 1 and installed in a rifle;

FIG. 3 is a side view of a second configuration of the cocking lever shown in FIG. 1 and installed in a rifle.

With reference to the figures, the cocking lever, particularly for firearms for use in hunting of the lever-action repeater type, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, is configured to be assembled in a firearm 2 with lever-action repeater loading and comprises at least one front part 3, designed to engage with the loading mechanism of the firearm 2, and a rear part 4 a, which defines the handle of the cocking lever 1.

More specifically, the front section 5 of the front part 3, designed to engage with the loading mechanism, is per se known and therefore will not be described in detail.

According to the invention, the front part 3 and the rear part 4 a are mutually associated using means 6 of rapid coupling and uncoupling in such a manner as to allow the facilitated removal of the rear part 4 a.

Conveniently, the rear part 4 a comprises a handle 7, which is configured to receive the fingers of a user, and a first portion 8, which defines part of the means 6 of rapid coupling and uncoupling and is configured to engage with a second portion 9 of the front part 3 which, in turn, also defines part of the means 6 of rapid coupling and uncoupling.

In more detail, the means 6 of rapid coupling and uncoupling comprise at least one protuberance 10 which protrudes laterally from one of the portions 8 or 9 along a transverse direction with respect to the plane of rotation of the cocking lever 1 toward the other of the portions 8 or 9, which has at least one indentation 11 adapted to accommodate the protuberance 10.

Moreover, the means 6 of rapid coupling and uncoupling comprise screw means 12 defined at the protuberance 10 and at the indentation 11 for the mutual locking of the two portions 8 and 9 along a transverse direction with respect to the plane of rotation of the cocking lever 1.

Conveniently, the locking is of the removable type for the facilitated release of the rear part 4 a from the front part 3.

More specifically, the screw means 12 comprise at least one threaded hole 13 and at least one through hole which are defined on the faces of the portions 8 and 9 that mutually face each other in such a manner as to be mutually coaxial with the front and rear parts 3 and 4 a which are mutually associated.

Such screw means 12 further comprise at least one screw inserted in the through hole with the head of the screw on the side opposite the threaded hole 13 and with the threaded end 16 of the screw screwed into the threaded hole 8.

More specifically, in the embodiment proposed, the screw just described is comprised of a threaded pin 14, which defines the threaded shank of the screw, and of a control knob 15, which defines the head of the screw, operable manually by the user in order to rotate the screw.

In more detail, the control knob 15 is associated with the threaded pin 14 by shape mating and is locked in place by a locking grub screw 17 and is at least partially contained in a seat 18 defined by the second portion 9 which contains the through hole.

Advantageously, the means of rapid coupling and uncoupling 6 comprise a retaining plate 20 associated integrally with the second portion 9 which contains the through hole in partial obstruction of the seat 18 along a transverse direction with respect to the direction of screwing of the screw 14 in such a manner as to interfere with a flanged edge 19 defined by the control knob 15 so as to prevent the accidental exit of the screw 14 and of the control knob 15 respectively from the through hole and from the seat 18.

Advantageously, the means of rapid coupling and uncoupling 6 comprise a helical spring 21 fitted over the threaded pin 14 of the screw and interposed between the head of the screw, i.e. the control knob 15, and the second portion 9 which contains the through hole, in such a manner as to exert a distancing thrust between the two and keep the control knob 15 clutched so as to prevent accidental rotations thereof.

In the proposed embodiment, the means 6 of rapid coupling and uncoupling comprise two protuberances 10 and two indentations 11 in mutually corresponding pairs, with the screw means 12, just described, which are split for each pair defined by a protuberance 10 and an indentation 11.

Furthermore, in the proposed embodiment, the two protuberances 10 have a cylindrical geometry with a circular base and the screw means 12 are defined coaxially with the protuberances 10.

Advantageously, the cocking lever 1 can comprise a second rear part 4 b in such a manner as to define a set of rear parts that is constituted by at least two rear parts 4 a which are selectively associable with the front part.

Operation of the cocking lever 1 according to the present invention is easily intuited from the foregoing description.

Once the cocking lever 1 is assembled in a firearm 2 for use in hunting, particularly of the lever-action repeater type, its rear part, which defines the handle 7, can be interchanged with different rear parts 4 a, 4 b of different sizes.

The disassembly takes place following the unscrewing of the control knobs 15 which, by virtue of the retaining plate 20, cannot be physically separated from the front part 3.

In fact, once the control knobs 15 are unscrewed, with a transverse movement adapted to uncouple the protuberances 10 from the indentations 11, the rear part 4 a or 4 b is decoupled from the front part 3.

The reassembly of the two parts takes place with a similar procedure but with the steps in reverse order.

During normal use however, the friction control offered by the two helical springs 21 prevents the two control knobs 15 from being accidentally unscrewed and the shape mating between the protuberances 10 and the indentations 11 enables the transfer of the rotation applied to the handle 7 to all of the cocking lever 1 with consequent loading of the firearm 2.

In practice it has been found that the cocking lever, particularly for firearms for use in hunting of the lever-action repeater type, according to the present invention, achieves the intended aim and objects in that it makes it possible to change the size of the handle simply and rapidly, in so doing being able to adapt to different sizes of the hand of the user.

The cocking lever, particularly for firearms for use in hunting of the lever-action repeater type, thus conceived, is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations all of which are within the scope of the appended claims.

Moreover, all the details may be substituted by other, technically equivalent elements.

In practice the materials employed, provided they are compatible with the specific use, and the contingent dimensions and shapes, may be any according to requirements. 

1.-12. (canceled)
 13. A cocking lever, particularly for firearms for use in hunting of the lever-action repeater type, which is configured to be assembled in a lever-action repeater firearm and which comprises at least one front part, designed to engage with a loading mechanism of said firearm, and a rear part, which defines a handle of said cocking lever; wherein said front and rear parts are mutually associated using means of rapid coupling and uncoupling in such a manner as to allow a facilitated removal of said rear part.
 14. The cocking lever according to claim 13, wherein said rear part defines the handle, which is configured to receive the fingers of a user, and a first portion, which defines part of said means of rapid coupling and uncoupling and is configured to engage with a second portion of said front part; said second portion defining part of said means of rapid coupling and uncoupling.
 15. The cocking lever according to claim 14, wherein said means of rapid coupling and uncoupling comprise at least one protuberance which protrudes laterally from one of said first and second portions along a transverse direction with respect to a plane of rotation of said cocking lever toward another one of said first and second portions; said another one of said portions having at least one indentation adapted to accommodate said at least one protuberance.
 16. The cocking lever according to claim 15, wherein said means of rapid coupling and uncoupling comprise screw means defined at said at least one protuberance and at said at least one indentation for mutual locking of said first and second portions along a transverse direction with respect to the plane of rotation of said cocking lever; said locking being of the removable type for a facilitated release of said rear part from said front part.
 17. The cocking lever according to claim 16, wherein said screw means comprise at least one threaded hole and at least one through hole which are defined on faces of said first and second portions that mutually face each other in such a manner as to be mutually coaxial with said front and rear parts mutually associated; said screw means comprising at least one screw inserted in said through hole with a head of said screw on a side opposite said threaded hole and with a threaded end of said screw screwed into said threaded hole.
 18. The cocking lever according to claim 17, wherein said head of said screw comprises a control knob that is configured to be operated manually by said user for a rotation of said screw; said control knob being at least partially contained in a seat defined by said portion that contains said through hole.
 19. The cocking lever according to claim 18, wherein said means of rapid coupling and uncoupling comprise a retaining plate associated integrally with said second portion that has said through hole in partial obstruction of said seat along a transverse direction with respect to a direction of screwing of said screw in such a manner as to interfere with a flanged edge of said control knob so as to prevent an accidental exit of said screw and of said control knob respectively from said through hole and from said seat.
 20. The cocking lever according to claim 13, wherein said means of rapid coupling and uncoupling comprise a helical spring fitted over said screw and interposed between said head and said second portion that contains said through hole in such a manner as to exert a distancing thrust between said head and said second portion.
 21. The cocking lever according to claim 18, wherein said means of rapid coupling and uncoupling comprise two protuberances and two indentations in mutually corresponding pairs and wherein said screw means are split for each pair defined by one of said protuberances and one of said indentations.
 22. The cocking lever according to claim 21, wherein said protuberances have a cylindrical geometry with a circular base and wherein said screw means are defined coaxially with said protuberances.
 23. The cocking lever according to claim 13, comprising a set of rear parts that is constituted by at least two of said rear parts which are selectively associable with said front part.
 24. A firearm for use in hunting, particularly of the lever-action repeater type, comprising a cocking lever according to claim
 13. 